


Sensory Overload

by TickingClockwork



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sensory Overload, autistic character written by autistic writer, autistic conductor, fire spirit conductor, mention of smoke, the conductor cries smoke instead of tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:46:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25564573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TickingClockwork/pseuds/TickingClockwork
Summary: After one too many things goes wrong, the conductor has a breakdown, which leads to him going into sensory overload. Grooves does his best to help.
Relationships: The Conductor/DJ Grooves (A Hat in Time)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 123





	Sensory Overload

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to Ericka_The_Rat for how The Conductor cries. It was such a brilliant idea I just had to put it in here.

The Conductor was often angry

That didn’t necessarily mean he enjoyed being angry- quite the opposite in fact. Anger burned inside him like a hot, painful fire. It twisted in his gut, threatening to spill out onto anyone who was unlucky enough to talk to him at the wrong time. It hurt to be angry.

The only thing worse than anger is what anger became. A total shut down of mind and body. A painful combination of confusion and hate. When all of his senses felt like they were working against him. 

The Conductor slammed his hand down on his desk. Several half finished scripts lay on the flat surface. It all started when he had gotten angry. He didn’t even know why he was angry. He just was. He always was. Why couldn’t he make it stop?

The Owl(?) got up and threw his hat on his desk. He began to pace around the room. He couldn’t work like this. He couldn’t think like this. He wanted to punch something. Set something on fire. Anything to get this awful feeling to go away.

Everything felt bad. The feeling of his shoes on his feet. The quiet hum of the ventilation system. The light clacking of two platform shoes walking towards his office.

When he heard a knock on his door, The Conductor felt like his insides were twisting. He pressed his back to the wall and slid to the ground.

He wanted so badly to cover his ears and hide under his desk. To block out the world and never answer the door. But, knowing whoever was at the door would knock again, he gathered his strength enough to speak.

“Go away.”

His voice held the same anger that it always did. But there was something more there. Something painful. Barely noticeable. But just enough for the compassionate penguin on the other side of the door to know not to slam the door open.

The door opened slowly. Hardly making a noise.

The Conductor didn’t look up at the intruder. He didn’t need to. None of his owls would have disobeyed the order to leave. And out of all the moon penguins, there was only one who dared step onto this side of the studio.

In the doorway stood a very shocked DJ Grooves.

DJ Grooves and The Conductor had been in a bit of a heated argument that morning. It wasn’t too bad, but certainly worse than usual. Grooves knew it had upset The Conductor quite a bit but he had no idea it would have affected him this badly.

To put it lightly, The Conductor looked like a mess. His tie was off. His feathers were a mess. Sitting on the ground, hatless, and surrounded by crumpled papers. The weirdest part of all of it was the light trail of smoke that was rising from the Conductor’s body.

“Darling?” Grooves sounded worried. He was scared. Scared something had happened. Scared the conductor would lash out. Scared it was his fault.

The Conductor flinched at the word but didn’t speak. He couldn’t. There was nothing to say. He was just so angry. And it hurt so much. He was in so much pain with no way to stop it. Engaging with Grooves would only make things worse.

“Darling.” The penguin repeated himself. Except now his voice was far softer. He knelt to the ground in front of conductor (which was quite impressive, considering his rather large footwear)

Grooves wasn’t sure what had happened. But he was sensible enough to know this was an issue that couldn’t be resolved with their usual banter.

Sure, they would always be rivals. But there were times when both of them knew there were more important things. Times when the flame of hatred inside them had to be put out for a while. This was definitely one of those times.

The Conductor looked up at Grooves for the first time since he entered the room, acknowledging his presence, before looking back down. 

“Conductor, Darling. What happened?” The usually loud penguin now spoke in almost a whisper.

The Conductor lowered his head more. His shoulders began to shake as more smoke rose from his body. 

Grooves wanted to ask about the smoke, but decided against it.

Grooves moved to sit next to The Conductor. His back now against the wall. He kept a distance to make sure he didn’t touch the distressed owl next to him. He knew better than to touch the conductor without his permission.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong, Darling?” It was both a request and a question. Grooves wasn’t sure how verbal The Conductor was at this moment.

“..I don’t know.” It was almost relieving to hear The Conductor’s voice again, but at the same time it worried him more. Despite his size, The Conductor was always so big in presentation. But now. Now he sounded so small. 

“I just got so.. angry. Couldn’t make it stop. It hurts.” The smoke around The Conductor became thicker as he spoke.

The Conductor was usually loud and brash. But now he was so quiet it was almost painful to hear.

“...Does this have anything to do with our fight this morning?” Grooves asked

The Conductor considered it for a moment. He had forgotten about the fight entirely. The smoke around him staggered as he remembered.

“No- well. Yes. Sort of. It was a lot of things. The fight was just the final straw.” The Conductor’s voice was returning to him. He sounded less pained. Grooves sighed in relief.

“I’m dreadfully sorry that it escalated so far, Darling. If I had known you were having such a hard time-“

“Eh it’s fine. Not like you could have known.” The Conductor crosses his arms, looking away. It looked like he was feeling better.

Grooves smiled. It was nice to see his normal Conductor again.

After a moment of seeing The Conductor relax, Grooves decided now would be a good time to bring it up

“Should I... open a window?” Grooves said almost jokingly, gesturing to the smoke filling the room.

The Conductor looked up, confused, and then flinched when he noticed he was smoking. He took a deep breath and the smoke thinned.

“Sorry about that” the conductor lowered his head. “I hadn’t realized I was crying..”

Grooves’ eyes widened. So that’s what the smoke was. The Conductor was crying.

DJ Grooves had never seen The Conductor cry before. Though he supposed it made sense that it wouldn’t involve tears. The Conductor didn’t have eyes after all. 

“Is it.. alright if I touch you?” Grooves looked down as he asked. The Conductor’s head snapped up to look at the penguin next to him. He thought for a moment.

“...Yeah. Yeah that’s alright.”

Without a moment of hesitation, Grooves wrapped his flipper around the Conductor’s shoulders; pulling him closer.

The Conductor stiffened for a moment, before relaxing into Grooves.

The Conductor’s body was no longer smoking. Any smoke that had been in the room went up through the vent. Though he was still shaking a bit.

Grooves held the smaller bird close to him. Savoring the quiet moment. They were rivals. And the rivalry was special to both of them. But Grooves would be lying if he said he didn’t appreciate moments like these. Moments when there was no rivalry. Moments when they could care for each other.

Grooves heard The Conductor mumble something.

“What was that, Darling?”

“I said..” The Conductor paused, embarrassed.

“thanks.”

Grooves quietly laughed. It wasn’t often he heard The Conductor be grateful for anything.

“You’re very welcome, darling”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for the ahit fandom. But I have just been thinking about these birds non-stop since I met them in game. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love you 💚


End file.
